economy

Via the AP: "As we know, the global financial crisis originated neither in Russia, nor in Greece or Europe — it came from across the ocean," Putin said. "In the United States, we see the same problems — massive foreign debt and budget deficit," he said.

The Special Inspector General's report on TARP has been released from embargo. It concludes that TARP was unsuccessful, and even its (debatable) short-term corrections are overshadowed by the extent to which it has returned the economy to its previous bubble state -- "we are still driving on the same winding mountain road, but this time […]

A new Rasmussen survey finds that voters trust Republicans more than Democrats in 6 out of 10 examined issues, with Republicans being favored on the issue most on voters' minds - the economy - 45% to 39%. It's the first time in two years that Republicans have been favored on the economy. This comes despite another […]

The market shot up late this afternoon because Paul Krugman stated: “I would not be surprised if the official end of the U.S. recession ends up being, in retrospect, dated sometime this summer,” he said in a lecture today at the London School of Economics. “Things seem to be getting worse more slowly. There’s some […]

Happily, I've only used the term "green shoots" one time in the brief history of TGR, and then only sarcastically in the title of this cartoon (which I stand by, as this post should make evident). The term has always struck me as ridiculous, and not solely because it was first uttered at a time […]

April advance retail sales were announced much lower than expected, coming in at -0.4% vs the anticipated 0% month-over-month change. Auto sales constitute a large part of retail sales (around 20%, in fact), and so it can be informative to look at the retail number excluding autos to see the real trend in consumer behavior. […]

Just overheard on Charles Schwab radio (a story for another time): Astute investors know the stock market typically bottoms before the economy. If only an investor could identify a bottom without the benefit of hindsight, such knowledge would actually be useful.

It's hard to believe FT Alphaville is taking this seriously, but they are: markets and sunspot cycles. Apparantly, as this very convincing graph shows, recessions correspond with the regular sunspot cycle: As this plainly demonstrates, there is a perfect correlation with sunspots and recessions. Except for that little recession in the 1930's, but that one doesn't count, […]

They're still at it! Mankiw explains on his blog (provacatively titled "Wanna bet some of that Nobel money?"): Paul Krugman suggests that my skepticism about the administration's growth forecast over the next few years is somehow "evil." Well, Paul, if you are so confident in this forecast, would you like to place a wager on it and take advantage […]

Excerpt from Obama's speech to Congress: That’s what this is about. It’s not about helping banks – it’s about helping people. Because when credit is available again, that young family can finally buy a new home. And then some company will hire workers to build it. And then those workers will have money to spend, […]

Remember this, the controversial "3am phone call" ad? How about this response? Last Thursday, President Obama wrote an opinion for the Washington Post which contained the following paragraph: And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will […]

Default Widget

This is Sidebar 1. You can edit the content that appears here by visiting your Widgets panel and modifying the current widgets in Sidebar 1. Or, if you want to be a true ninja, you can add your own content to this sidebar by using the appropriate hooks.

Default Widget

This is Sidebar 2. You can edit the content that appears here by visiting your Widgets panel and modifying the current widgets in Sidebar 2. Or, if you want to be a true ninja, you can add your own content to this sidebar by using the appropriate hooks.